Let the Monster Rise
by xjrose
Summary: He swore that he'd protect her, just like her father had, and also like Nathan, he tried. Sequel to If Only You Were Lonely but written so that it could be stand-alone.
1. Chapter 1

Shilo was sitting on the couch, reading a book and waiting for the Graverobber to return from his nightly duties. He had taken to staying with her because she didn't want to be alone after the Opera incident. She heard the door open but she didn't turn around, thinking that it was only him returning to her. She didn't hear his footsteps or smell the perfume of his profession, but she didn't think anything of it until a hand covered her mouth and she heard a voice at her ear that she didn't recognize. "Ah, the infamous Repoman's daughter. Shilo, is it?" Her eyes widened in terror and a stifled cry escaped her lips.

She was bound and dragged into her father's torture chamber behind the fireplace. The sound-proof walls only hid her screams from the rest of the world and as she feared for her life, she only hoped that the Graverobber would come home soon to rescue her. She had been so confident, pointing a gun at Rotti Largo, but in this moment she knew she stood no chance bound tight against the wall. There was no escape.

"Are you ready to finally be reunited with your mother, Shilo?" It seemed that he only used her name and her life-story to mock her. The man ripped at her shirt and she wondered if she was going to be raped. But he took a knife and began to dig into her flesh as she whimpered and blood spilled out onto her pale skin. He made a solid line from her clavicle to her belly button. Shilo let out a scream as blood flowed thicker and swifter. If her legs hadn't been locked down, she would have kicked and fought but she knew there was no use fighting it now.

Her skin was sickly pale from blood loss and her voice was raspy from screaming and cursing at her assailant. "He will kill you," she whispered. He knew that she was too far gone to ask questions as to who she meant. He reached into her chest cavity and pulled out her barely beating heart into his hand. Shilo's eyes widened as her heart was taken from her and displayed before them.

The beating ceased and her body lay limp, growing colder by the second, her eyes frozen open in terror.


	2. Chapter 2

Graverobber walked into the familiar house and nothing seemed amiss. A second glance revealed a book haphazardly thrown onto the couch and Shilo nowhere to be found throughout the house. He knew she wouldn't leave; she had nowhere to go.

The fireplace stood ajar. He had never noticed the passageway before. As he approached, he looked at the floor. Scuff marks: she'd been dragged across the floor like a doll. As he walked in, there were tools laying about. But the thing that really caught his eye was Shilo. She was shackled to the wall, her arms outstretched. There was a gash on her bare chest.

He knew without a doubt that someone had stolen her heart. It was an insult to him in so many ways. She was the most precious thing in the world to him and she had been violated, cut into, her organs taken from her. But it was only her heart that was missing. He wanted to take the heart from his chest and place it in hers, if only it would grant her life. Shilo had confessed to him that she loved him and he had said it back only the previous night. He had promised to protect her, but it seemed that he could not fulfill even that request.

Graverobber was filled with anger and grief. He removed her shackles and held her limp body in his hands, he himself collapsing to the stone floor. He apologized profusely to the air, tears streaming down his pale face. He screamed as he had the first night they met, only this time it was louder and he was screaming her name. Her body was still warm but it was quickly losing heat. The blood splattered about her body, the blood that tainted her beautiful skin that had now turned almost an unnatural color, a color that he was so familiar with, now seeped into his clothing.

He took the necklace from around her neck and fastened it around his own. Graverobber set her down gently against the floor, closing her eyes and kissing her cold lips one last time. He draped a sheet over her body, leaving her head uncovered as though she were only sleeping. But the life seemed to be drained from her closed eyelids.

Graverobber picked himself up from the floor and stood at the threshold of the passage, looking back at her lifeless body. "I'm sorry, my love." He knew she would not truly rest in peace until he had brought down her killer. So he took off into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Graverobber stood in the shadows, waiting, watching. He heard a man's screams as his organs were being repossessed. He followed the screams but by the time he arrived, the man was already dead. Graverobber stood face-to-face with the new Repoman. "Was she a personal project?" Graverobber stepped closer, rage growing in his eyes.

"Who?" The Repoman pretended not to know.

"Shilo Wallace." Graverobber held a Zydrate gun to the Repoman's head.

"Oh," he said with a smirk. "You are the he she spoke of. She said you'd kill me. But I didn't know that you were going to make it painless."

Graverobber jabbed the needle into his skull and released the liquid. The Repoman screamed as the needle broke his skull and the liquid drowned his brain. "How's that for painless?" Graverobber smiled.

The Repoman could only say one word, "Amber."

But a part of him already knew that Amber was the reason for Shilo's death. Graverobber bent down and collected the Zydrate from the Repoman's corpse and continued walking with purpose to Geneco headquarters.


End file.
